The Feeling Is Mutual
by TDA792
Summary: An extended cut of the Kelly/Shepard chat about Tali; set just after Haestrom. A one-shot. Rated "T" for infrequent quarian swears.


**A/N: Hey, it's me. Just came up with this one-shot idea, hope you enjoyz!**

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><p><strong>The <strong>**Feeling**** Is ****Mutual**

_16:51 [Standard Earth Time]  
><em>_Tuesday 3rd February 2185  
><em>_Normandy SR-2  
><em>_Deck 2  
><em>_Briefing Room_

"…If not, then I'm here for you, not for them," said Tali'Zorah slowly. She turned towards the exit. "I'll be in engineering if you need me."

Shepard watched her go. Even after two years, the quarian he knew had not changed a bit. He smiled to himself; she was still as adorable as ever, even if she was angry. Shepard himself turned to go, when Jacob Taylor's deep voice rang out.

"Don't forget to introduce yourself to EDI," he said thickly, "the ship's new artificial intelligence."

Tali turned to look at Jacob. If looks could kill, Jacob would have disintegrated under the Quarian Death Glare. Shepard face-palmed at Jacob's idiocy; he turned to him.

"Jacob," he said sternly, "did you learn _nothing_in history class? Don't you know that quarians loathe AI?"

Jacob looked at his feet.

"I think you and I need to talk, mister Taylor, about insulting your commander's good friend," Shepard said, not joking at all.

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><p><em>What <em>_a __bosh__'__tet!_ Tali thought furiously. _How __dare __that __Cerberus __Officer __make __fun __of __her __like __that? __It __was __a __pointless, __cruel __joke, __to __say __that __the _Normandy _has __an __Artificial __Intelligence __on board! _She steamed through the science lab, briefly pausing for the human custom of polite nodding to the salarian scientist working there.

She continued through to the CIC, still fuming. However, her luminous eyes were drawn to the huge hologram in the centre of the CIC; being a quarian, and an engineer at that, the expensive map of the ship intrigued her.

Not looking where she was going, the quarian ploughed right into someone. She fell onto her back, whilst the young human woman she had walked into managed to keep upright. The human looked momentarily startled at this development, and then her face became set, as she extended a hand to Tali. She grudgingly took it, eyeing the Cerberus logo on her shoulder cautiously. The human woman spoke.

"I'm… sorry for knocking you over," she said apologetically, even though it wasn't her fault. Tali finally looked at this woman's face. She was pretty, with short-ish ginger hair.

"Oh, no," returned Tali, also apologetically, "it was my fault, don't worry about it."

The woman examined Tali for about a second, and then said carefully "you're the quarian, Tali'Zorah, right?"

Tali nodded. "Yes," she said simply. The woman smiled charmingly.

"I'm Yeoman Kelly Chambers, the Commander's personal assistant."

Tali looked surprised. _Shepard __has __a __secretary __this __pretty?_ She thought. _What__'__s __more, __he __has __a __secretary?_

The Yeoman must have managed to read Tali's confusion. "I also have a degree in psychology," she explained again, "We are all going on a pretty taxing mission. I'm here to stop people jumping overboard." Tali nodded understandingly.

"It's… good you are here," she said, unsure of what to say.

"I may say this to everyone, but still, if you have anything you'd like to talk about, my door is _always_ open," she continued, slightly subdued. "It's confidential," she added quickly.

"…Uhm, thank you, Yeoman," said Tali, unsure of what to say.

"Please, call me Kelly," Kelly stated. "Everyone does."

"OK, Kelly," confirmed the quarian. Slight pause. Tali sighed melancholically, then spoke.

"You know, I was in two minds to actually re-join the _Normandy_," explained Tali. "After what Cerberus did to the Migrant Fleet, I mean."

Kelly Chambers looked slightly confused. "I… hadn't heard about that. What happened, exactly?"

Tali sighed sadly. "They infiltrated our Flotilla, killed our people, and tried to blow up one of our ships," she elaborated. Kelly placed a hand over her mouth in horror. _Cerberus __has __done __that?_ She thought.

"They were looking for a young human biotic whom we were keeping safe," Tali said. "A traitor to our people, a clanless named Golo, helped them get in," she spat. "He's dead now, though. Good riddance, I say." A long pause followed Tali's words. Kelly thought back through what Tali had said.

"So what made you decide to join us?" she asked curiously. Tali blushed, and looked away.

"Oh, it's… no-one- I mean, it's nothing," she said nervously. Kelly smiled knowingly. _She __likes __someone,_ she thought. _Probably __someone __she __already __knew__… __Garrus? __Or __could __it __be the great __Shepard __himself?_

Trying to change the subject to save Tali's embarrassment, Kelly looked over Tali's shoulder.

"Where is Shepard?" she asked politely. Tali jumped at the use of Shepard's name. _Gotcha,_ Kelly thought; she smiled. _Tali__likes__Shepard_.

"Usually he comes out of the briefing room pretty soon after new crew members," Kelly continued.

Tali looked over her shoulder. "Last I saw him, he was telling that darker-skinned human off," she said, with a hint of anger at that human, and pride that Shepard was defending her.

Kelly raised an eyebrow. "That doesn't sound like Shepard at all," she said slowly.

Tali elaborated. "He made some stupid joke about an AI on this ship. I think he was trying to be funny," she mused.

"Uhm… T-Tali?" asked Kelly, unsure of her quarian name. "D-Do you mean EDI?"

At the mention of her name, the familiar blue dome popped up nearby. "You called, Miss Chambers?" it stated coolly as ever; Tali's eyes visibly widened behind her visor.

"Y-Y-You _do_have an AI?" she asked, unable to believe it.

"Yes, Miss Zorah. The _Normandy_ is equipped with an AI, which is me," EDI explained. "However, I hope to allay your rightful prejudice against me as a quarian by explaining to you that I have no control over the _Normandy_'s systems; I observe and offer analysis and advice, nothing more."

Tali returned to her normal state. "Well…" she said nervously. "That's… acceptable, I suppose." EDI's blue dome disappeared again.

"I will see you later, Miss Ch- Kelly," said Tali, walking around the room to study the 3-dimensional map of the _Normandy._

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><p>"I had a wonderful chat with your friend, Tali," said Kelly to Shepard, when he arrived in the CIC. "She's not what I expected from her psych profile. I like her."<br>"Tali is a good friend," agreed Shepard. "We've been through a lot together."

Tali looked over at the two of them, talking casually. She turned up her suit's audio receptors.

"My female intuition says she wants to be more than just good friends," confided Kelly. _Keelah! __She__'__s __telling __him? __How __did __she __know? _panicked Tali, worried about what Shepard would say.

"I always felt there might have been some chemistry there," he replied. Tali's heart climbed a few millimeters out of her stomach.

"There is," confirmed Kelly. "It's in her body language; how she turns to you when you enter a room; how she watches your every move," _Keelah, __am __I __that __obvious? _wondered Tali.

"… I'd be good to her, Shepard. She likes you," finished Kelly, "a _lot_."

Shepard's gaze slowly shifted from Kelly, straight in the direction of said quarian engineer. Tali felt herself shrink under his gaze.

Of all the things she thought that Shepard would say, all the emotion he could feel: confusion, disgust, horror, never was she prepared for what he would say next.

"I guess… the feeling is mutual."

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><p><strong>AN: OK,**** I wanna give a shout-out to Para-Cord, who has reviewed a lot of my work. HEY PARA-CORD! You see people, this is what you get if you review my stories, you [might] get a shout-out. So... review! :D**


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